Monthly Archives: June 2008
I came across the web site for a Microsoft-sponsored alternative computing form factor contest the other day, and I must say there were a few interesting ideas that might help people begin to see the future of computing.The most interesting concept was coincidentally the winner of the contest, the Napkin PC.If you follow the link above you’ll see the artist conceptions and get a good sense of the vision. The gist is that some of the greatest advances in the world have been conceived on the lowly paper napkin in restaurants and coffee shops all over the world, so why not take the napkin high tech. Just don’t try and wipe up spilled coffee with it.The concept consists of a rack to contain and potentially recharge the OLED “napkins” and the styluses that go with them. These “napkins” provide a computing interface much like a tablet computer and can be … Continue reading
Lest anyone thought that Apple and Google’s latest assaults on Nokia’s dominance in the mobile space would go unchallenged, news came out today that Nokia is acquiring the rest of Symbian that it did not already own.This would be interesting news by itself, but Nokia, recognizing that its future as a handset manufacturer is at risk ratcheted up the competition at the same time.How are they doing this?By making the bold and correct move of making Symbian instantly the largest open source mobile platform through its transfer to an entity called the Symbian Foundation. Nokia really has no other choice but to make this move. RIM is evolving to become a more capable competitor, PALM and Motorola are both making their last ditch efforts to save themselves, Samsung and HTC continue to gather strength, Apple is opening up and poised to gain significant share, and Google has already launched an … Continue reading
For those skeptics out there who doubt that Apple will launch an iPhone Pro sometime between October 2008 and January 2009 at Macworld, check out this BusinessWeek article. The synopsis is that the iPhone 3G is $53/unit cheaper to manufacture than the original iPhone according to analysts. This puts the cost to produce the iPhone 3G at $173 versus $226 for the original iPhone, and they go further to predict that iPhone 3G costs will fall to $148 in 2009. They go further to estimate that Apple is selling the iPhone 3G to Apple for $499, leaving Apple a huge $281 profit per unit (or about 56%).This means there is plenty of room for Apple to drop the price of the iPhone 3G to AT&T when they are ready to launch the iPhone Pro, in order to support AT&T dropping the iPhone 3G 8GB to $99, $49 or even free.Now … Continue reading
There has been a debate in the United States over the last several years around whether or not the government should institute a program of mandatory government service like other countries in the world.In most countries this takes the form of military service, but some allow work in other government capacities to satisfy the obligation.The United States does have mandatory government service, it’s called jury duty but it probably amounts to only a number of days over the course of a lifetime. In addition the government has implemented schemes to help address acute shortages. AmeriCorps was founded to help alleviate the shortage of teachers in the inner cities by forgiving some or all of participants college loans.But I have never heard anyone pitch mandatory government service as an opportunity to create competitive advantage.Instead, governments engage in repeated wealth transfers to consulting companies for consulting projects that too often don’t translate … Continue reading
To commemorate the launch of the second version of Apple’s iPhone, I’d like to revisit my original iPhone article from one year ago. In that article I theorized why the iPhone would not succeed, at least not in its first incarnation, and why it would not be until its third version that it would be a runaway success.So, one year on I still believe that it will be the third version that will cement the iPhone’s position in the same way that the third version of the iPod led to the iPod becoming pervasive. The iPhone definitely has the potential to become as pervasive as the iPod, but it is still not ready.When I look back at the specs I predicted would lead to ultimate success, Apple has only moved part of the way there with its second iPhone. If Apple is truly honest with people, this new iPhone really … Continue reading
We are at an inflection point in the developed world, and the fate of your standard of living rests either in the your own hands (if you are an entrepreneur) or in the wisdom (or lack thereof) of a few key politicians.The question is will the direction be up or down?Economic factors in our newly globalized world dictate that individuals in lesser developed countries like China and India will experience rising wages and an increasing standard of living while individuals in the developed world experience flat or declining wages and standard of living in a race to the middle.This began happening some time ago, but has been buried under a pile of easy credit.Housing costs have increased, food and fuel prices are surging upwards along with commodity prices as demand grows faster than supply. Meanwhile, real wages are declining. Sounds like a depressing situation, right?Well, all is not lost. If … Continue reading
